MrCanada

I find a good crushing death usually only increases the amount I want to cheer. But I think we have stumbled across a more philasophical debate. What is more crushing to a hot crowd? The supposed death of a Phenom, or Tyler Reks?

so far a good ppv. Thoughts (WARNING SPOILERS! BUT YOU ARE AN IDIOT IF YOU ARE IN A THREAD DEVOTED TO WWE TRYING TO AVOID THEM) -- Bryan vs. Ziggler. Good match. Not perfect by any chance and easily torn apart if you want to, but I enjoyed it. Wouldnt mind seeing these two go at it more. Goes to show that near-20-minute matches work still. Maybe even on TV, take note WWE! -- Cena & Otunga winning the gold is a cool thing. Would prefer if it had been Gabriel instead of Otunga as I simply find Otunga useless and oddly shaped. Reminds me of Geodude from Pokemon. Now what they do with Rhodes & MacIntyre is beyond me. MacIntyre is a bit of a bust so far to me. I mean Alberto Del Rio is WAY better. I'd just fire him. lol. -- Goldust vs. Dibiase was perfectley fine. But why put THAT match on PPV? I mean, I have no issue with either of the two guys on PPV (especially Goldust, what crawled up his ass since his return to WWE and made him the most solid worker on the roster?) but why have this match that just left the feud open? Are we REALLY going to get another Goldust vs. Dibiase match on PPV? If not, then why was this one? I dont want to see an Intergender match either so... whats next? Would of been a perfect jumping point to have Dibiase fail to retain the title, have Maryse dump him, his father come out and tell him how dissapointed he is and then go from there with maybe Brett Dibiase debuting as "The Chosen Son" and regeining the Million Dollar belt then having Ted go face, possibly even teaming with Goldust against Brett Dibiase and whomever.... just a thought. lol. - Natayla didnt win the belt. Good! I want her to win, dont get me wrong. But hear me out. Clearly they are building to a point where Natalya needs back-up, enter The Glamazon. Eventually either-or wins the Diva's belt then we can have a 5-year long Natalya vs. Beth Phoenix feud (as one would eventually turn on the other) and I can die happy. - Kane vs. Taker up now. Agree with the above. How does a buried alive match work in PG? Its one of those things where WWE continues to tease die-hard fans with a return to glory, but it wont work out. Hopefully they end the match in an interesting way. I'm calling double burial by Bearer or something. Have a THIRD brother debut... lol. I dunno.

I think the Marquee Events are the ones they do on iPPV... Whatever it is. Everything else is just a house show.

I think this is 100% completely wrong. Sure, maybe the fact its a gold elbow pad is stupid, but workers having a gimmick to win matches is terrific! Its not done all that often, and can make a career when it works (Bob Orton), or mean interesting matches and storylines involving the gimmick as almost its own character. However it WILL become done if it doenst lead somewhere. Doesnt lead to a gold pad on a pole match, or a "if its used, behind the refs back or not, you lose the belts" match. Or a comeuppance situation where someone uses the pad, or maybe their own version (a boot?) to finally beat KOW leading to a boot vs pad match or what not. Slow build is FINE by me. You dont want WGTT beating the KOW right now, you dont have another team thats really intersting or ready to beat KOW elsewhere. You dont want KOW beating WGTT cleanly, so if its going to be a cheap finish anyway, sewing that together with a golden elbow pad works for me.

first iPPV experience, so lets do the always lame STAR RATINGS (and explanation): Kenny King d. Jay Briscoe ** - Dissapointing. I just dont think the Briscoe's really care anymore. I remember watching them in 2002 and they were new and exciting and showing potential. Now they are the exact same wrestlers except to old to show any potential and too obsessed with being strong style. Mark Briscoe d. Rhett Titus - *1/2 - Why... why must Titus now start moving away from a gimmick that made him unique? These two first matche, and reviews, could be basically interchanged but this one just didnt have quiet as much talent. But Titus & King used to be fun because of their gimmicks, now what are they? Indyrific. Briscoes have peaked. The Embassy d. Grizzy Redwood & Balls Mahoney * = This is the same as if the WWE did Michael Tarver & Heath Slater (Tarver = Butcher, no talent. Slater = Stevens, has talent, but for some reason is just meh) vs. Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov. Fine for what it was, but clearly no one cares about Redwood. No one really gives a damn about Butcher once he stops mutilating himself, no one cares about Erick Stevens outside Florida indies, and luckily Balls is half-decent and this was in NY. Generico & Cabana d. Steen & Corino *1/2 = Here's my idea for a match. Lets take El Generico, but take away the spotfest. Lets take Cabana, but take away the comedy, lets take Steen and continue to try and convince people he's a bad ass, and lets take Corino, and have him try and make this work. Dont get me wrong, I like Corino & Cabana, them, 1-on-1 in this kind of match MAY have worked. But Generico is just bland to me. 15 yakuza kicks later and what has he done besides be pale? Steen I see as ROH's equivelant of Test. He has some cool moves, he has a unique look (Test has a good one), and he is put in semi-interesting angles... but he just doesnt click. He's not that main star. Can anyone really see him with the belt? Even if you could, do you think him with the belt is what might help boost ROH up? So why waste time on him? In many ways, like most things with ROH, its usually the same problems for the same people. Generico & Steen are indy darlings, and will NEVER be anything more. Cabana could be bigger, Corino could to, or at least is a good gatekeeper. I think the most upsetting thing is the actual use of the chain. They didnt do anything innovative, rare for a company who should be on the cutting edge. I dont know what I was expecting but it was more then what he saw. A couple chain-wrapped punches and some tug-of-war... BUYRATES! Eddie Edwards d. Shawn Daivari *** = Overrated by me? Yup. But I saw the potential of this match. In reality it was about the same as Jay vs. King, but I just liked it. It made Eddie look like a real competitor (instead of American Wolfe 2) and showed Daivari has skills if people didnt know already. The only thing thats sad is this didnt get more time. Christopher Daniels d. Austin Aries *** - I havnt seen a lot of Aries lately, he never really did it for me. However he actually seems to have a fun entertaining character going now and I like it. These two simply delievered a solid wrestling match. Solid match = ***. Average match = ** if you havnt been keeping score. Best comparison is I think if you gave Edwards & Daivari this same time they could have a great match too. Kings of Wrestling d. Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team ***1/2 = Should of been 4 stars, but it seemed to die at the end. Hopefully ROH brings WGTT back as they could be very entertaining, and if you eventually go to a Haas vs. Benjamin feud in a while that would be cool. Benjamin is someone to put on a DVD cover with a title and people might actually buy it. Finish killed this match. I understand what they are doing, so this match COULD be redeemed in the future. IF all these cheap finishes lead to something, fine. If not. ROH is dumb. Roderick Strong d. Tyler Black ** - Does anyone REALLY like Roderick Strong? Dont get me wrong, he has some sick moves. HOLY **** moves. And Black too for that matter and they take incredible bumps. All Strong has to do now is figure out the parts in between the moves, figure out a better look, and figure out how to talk on the mic. If he does all that, he may one day grow up to become Jamie Noble (thats a compliment and an insult all at once). This move is typical indy stuff these days. STIFF KICK! ELBOW ELBOW ELBOW! CHOP! SLAP! CHOP! SPOT! PIN! KICK! SUBMISSION! OUT! ELBOW ELBOW ELBOW! KICK! SPOT! CHOP! SLAP! SUBMISSION! KICK! and on-and-on. If you think I'm trolling on that one, when the match becomes availible onDemand on monday I'll write up a move-for-move report. Then try and write how what just happened made any sense to anything that happened before it. Spotfests are fun though. Dont get me wrong. But main event? No. This is supposed to be the 3rd or 4th match of the night to get the crowd amped. And thats where both these guys belong on the card too sadly. Production d. Quality -***** = I get they are a small company. My stream only died a couple times, and I'm not sure if I was lucky, or it just showed how action-packed this show was, but I didnt seem to miss anything anytime. The announcing was annoying (why not Lenny Leonard or Prazak? I dont get it....) and it seems they simply need to find a way to figure out the volume and stuff and mixing of everything. If I win the lottery I'll buy the equipment they need for this task, as you cant really fault a promotion trying to grow for trying to find alternative ways to grow and then hitting some bumps along the way. They know its ridiculous and I'm sure are going to try and remedy the sitution, it just might take some time. BTW, Final Battle which is the next iPPV already has Richards vs. Strong for the belt announced. Assuming Strong is still champ. I hope Richards wins as he's more marketable and way better. Although why they dont like Aries, Daniels, either of the Kings of Wrestling, or either of WGTT be the face of the company is beyond me. It seems ever since Punk & Joe (and Nigel for that matter) left they've been kind of lost or desperate to build another one but already have 4 (if you dont count WGTT) guys on the roster who are plenty talented in all aspects of pro-wrestling.

And Kurt Angle was just a Ken Shamrock rip off.

MMA was regulated today in Ontario, out of no where. Starting 2011. Expect GSP vs. Koscheck to get bumped from December to January for the debut.

Second City Saints

I'm liking Murphy & Gunner (aka Mikael Judas and Phill Shatter, always thought Shatter, the littler one, had great potential and a cool look). For some reason I've always loved security in wrestling. I remember when TNA had the Red Shirt Security of Joe Legend & Kevin Northcutt feuding with the Black Shirt Security of Chris Vaughn and Rick Santel, for some reason it made me mark out. I know the Harris Bros also played the roll of security for a while, but never really were used as an angle.

He was reading Cat in the Hat. Kendrick's promo was about War and Piece or something and he asked Zeke to quote something, which he did, but he was still reading Cat in the Hat..... Which is reason enough for me to want him to be world champion.

looks like WWE is restocking development. Obviously with the Nexus being all called up and I think a good handful of NXT2 will stick around (pretty much the 6 left)... Recent signings (in most cases re-signings) are intersting: Austin Creed - Former TNA star. Always saw a deal of potential in him if he can stay in-tune with the wellness policy. Brent "Beef" Wellington - Probably the most talented guy to come out of OVW post-WWE so I have a good deal of faith. Brian Cage (aka Kris Logan) - Rumor is he has resigned and is coming back in mid-late August. I never understood why he was released in the first place. Good size & look plus a decent ability with some potential. Idol Stevens - I never like him.... but oh well. Joe Anoa'i - Once the NFL and CFL didnt work out for him this was bound to happen. The younger brother of Rosey for those who dont know. Natural athlete so hopefully good things can come of this. He may need time to mature ala Umaga. I could easily see a brief stint, send to Japan or fire so he can go there, then bring him back. Ryan O'Reilly - Surprised they brought him back after how he left the first time. Was a decent Paul Heyman-endorsed prospect back then. Wonder if he can still hold it up. Hopefully they bring back Shawn Spears (screw that Gavin nonsense) and give him a true shot. Had someone like him been on NXT he would of dominated.

I think everyone can agree it was just a good angle, and WWE has been overdue for one. Really, the last "big" angle in my opinion was ECW's return, but then that deflated. So its been what, 4 years without anything big? Last thing that was this talked about or "out of the ordinary" was Benoit going crazy sadly enough. Just interested to see where this goes.

were you really expecting them to give away the biggest match for NXT on the first show? Ki vs. Hennig will likely happen down the road when it means more, or not at all so it can happen even further down the road when it means more.

from Lance Storm's site: Storm needs to be booker somewhere important. I know he's currentley helping PWA in Winnipeg, but TNA or WWE could really benefit from him. (Hell, even ROH)

tune in for season 2 when McGillicuty and Harris are joined by a trigger happy rookie, Lucky Cannon!

I just hate the McGullicutty name. Can you picture 15,000 people chanting that? Or more at Wrestlemania? I cant. Mike Hennig? sure. They can trademark that instead of Joe Hennig and off to the races.

well season 2 might be more interesting because its less talented... if that makes sense. I mean this season they used up a good handful of their "A" prospects like Danielson, Barrett, Otunga, Gabriel, & Slater. This year its a lot more even. I mean Riley, Hennig, & Kaval are obviously going to stand up front as the more talented guys, especially Hennig and Kaval, but outside of thats its pretty open and guys may surpise. Cottonwood is huge, that might be enough. Husky Harris has a unique look compared to WWE and may get support. I think we can all agree though that, despite having one of the best names of all times, Lucky Cannon might need more then a rabbits foot to win this one. I say go hire his brother. Dusty Bottoms. EDIT: I just cant wait for the WWE universe to react the first time Kaval kicks someones head off. I think that alone has him a shoe-in to win. Imagine a Kaval, winner of season 2, vs the guy who COULDNT win season 1, Daniel Bryan, in the WWE. EDIT 2: And Ki being trained by Lay-Cool is genius. As is/was Miz & Bryan. Clearly they dont need the training, its not like anyone is going to believe, even the casual 9-year-old WWE fan, that after watching 1 Kaval match Lay-Cool can teach him a thing. However they will give him a good rub and help emphasize how good he is that he "doesnt need help." Lay-Cool trying to teach him stupid dances, saying he's worthless, then GHETTO STOMP!!!!!!

Yea, it seems to me the WWE has realized they cant just put it aside any more and maybe realize the greatness tag team wrestling was, and can be again. I also think having guys like The Hart Dynasty, the Uso's, and the Rotundo's (in FCW) they realise they have talented guys who might not be single break outs, but can still move merch and such. Hart Dynasty shirts everywhere (in Canada at least).

I never understood why people go on the internet, especially wrestling websites and message boards, ESPECIALLY on the day of the show for 90% of most people and then get mad "YOU DIDN'T SAY SPOILERS!" well....... Not that YOU were complaining, but its always funny to see.

Am I the only guy becoming more and more sold on Luke Gallows? I mean as Festus I found him entertaining in the ring kind of. Some unique offense, especially in the world of "slam! elbow drop!" big man wrestling. But now with the new character I am always left thinking why they made this guy a mute character in the first place. He's no CM Punk, sure, but there is nothing wrong at all about his mic work. And his matches are becoming better and better. Sure maybe I dont see him as a main player, but playing a Fake Kane may of been an omen of sorts as he seems like he may one day graze the top spot, but always will have some use.

This is basically the sum of everything, in a way I feel its been since WCW folded (if not shortly before then, when everyone started watching WWF and going to WWF events). For a time maybe it was the power of Rock & Austin, but after that it was the only show in town, so wrestling became "WWF/e" to most people. The other big problem is the size of wrestling fans versus sports entertainment fans. With the line becoming more blurred everyday, I think people forget the old way of wrestling isnt true anymore. That simple. The old way of wrestling is a dieing thing. The last couple million people left who like that stuff during the '90's are now the same group on boards like this, and watching TNA already. This is why TNA will never truley grow until they somehow become as trusted a brand as WWE or somehow rock the foundations of the sports entertainment world. They already have the wrestling world's attention. All couple million of them (dont forget, TNA's ratings are just based off of US TV ratings. Add Canada, the UK, internet, and the sprinkled other regions to that, its a couple million who likely watch impact in some way). Those are all thats left of wrestling fans. Thats what sets WWE apart from TNA. Also I feel a lot of the fans now are the workers on the indy scene. Anyone can get involved in it these days. A main reason I think indy shows struggle is because the people who would go watch them, and get "smark" enough to know about them, end up wrestling on them... And thats also to say you dont often see random indy workers at other shows paying to watch. So guys who work crap local shows who then call themselves pro-wrestlers, dont then go to the bigger shows (be it ROH or the local "big indy") and are hurting the business they think they love.

anyone know the status of Kiyoshi? He's not hurt, as he's made appearences in Japan. But is he still with TNA or not?

Pretty much all the larger Light Heavyweights would be in that division. And there is plenty of depth, people are just skewed because the divisions suck so much. Divisions should, really, be every 10 pounds or so with same-day weigh ins to make it real good. And I doubt Cain could get down to 220. but a cruiserweight division would have plenty of guys who are too big to cut to 195. Here's what the top two divisions would look like, and note I'm just listing names, not the young fighters no one really knows about yet. Heavyweight: 265 Brock Lesnar Shane Carwin Cain Velazquez Roy Nelson Frank Mir Minotauro Nogueira Cheick Kongo Heath Herring Gabriel Gonzaga Junior Dos Santos Cruiserweight: 220 Forrest Griffin Keith Jardine Ryan Bader Chuck Liddell Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Tito Ortiz Brandon Vera Randy Couture Quinton Jackson (doubt he can get to 195 anymore) Mirko Cro Cop Gilbert Yvel Kimbo Slice Jon Jones (might be able to hit 195) Keith Jardine Light Heavyweight: 195 Anderson Silva Lyoto Machida Mauricio Rua Vitor Belfort (could drop down to 185) Jon Jones (might be too big) Rashad Evans Rich Franklin (might be down at 185) Thiago Silva Matt Hamill Wanderlei Silva (might be down at 185) Middleweight: 185 Vitor Beflort (might decide to stay at 195 where he's more comfortable, him Franklin, & Henderson are the big names that have been pushing for that class to be brought in) Michael Bisping Rich Franklin Demian Maia Nate Marquardt Yushin Okami Chael Sonnen Wanderlei Silva (might be up at 195) Welterweight: Georges St-Pierre Thiago Alves Carlos Condit Paul Daley Marcus Davis Jon Fitch Dan Hardy Matt Hughes Anthony Johnson (might jump to 185 as he gets older & bigger) Josh Koscheck Matt Serra Mike Swick and those are only "names" of course you could bring in more guys from the outside, and UFC could aggressively go after some guys who would love to get in and just arnt "known" yet. And this would only create more names, that cant be stressed enough. If you watch enough MMA, especially for long enough, you realize that is suffers from the same crap pro-wrestling does. Josh Koscheck is in the UFC (eg WWE) so he must be amazing! then Paulo Thiago comes and bam. There are a CRAP load of good fighters who just havnt been given the chances yet who if given some rope would do well. Jake Shields is GREAT example. Respected upmost in MMA circles but no one cared. I watched Strikeforce with friends and was the only one cheering for Shields (I didnt think he'd win though to be honest), and my friends were ****ting on him when he's now argueably the second best middleweight behind Silva! And he would likely beat anyone in the UFC besides him. If UFC did this they would be EXPANDING, which means getting more and more already semi-accomplished fighters, or trying to, like King Mo. Or bringing Nick Diaz back, though I doubt they would.

If it was up to me, I'd split UFC & WEC differently then most people are talking about. Drop Lightweights down to WEC, it would give WEC some "names" and attract interest, and create superfights (Jose Aldo jump weight to fight BJ Penn!), and then in the UFC you add the much needed Cruiserweight division, and modify the Middlerweight & Light Heavyweight divisions to make it more even. Right now someone like Silva can cut to 185, but then get back up to 200. Cutting the extra 5 would make a HUGE differance. And in that case he could fight bigger guys who can also cut to 195. It would make Middleweight a more even division, allowing some Welter's to jump (Thiago, looking at you!) and guys like Maia to do well without big guys like Silva. Then of course the Cruiserweight division creates a huge division for a lot of guys. Most top Light Heavyweights would be up there, and guys who are getting overshadowed or not given the chance (Jon Jones) can dominate the new Light Heavyweight division. Heavyweight (221-265) Cruiserweight (196-220) Light Heavyweight (181-195) Middleweight (171-180) Welterweight (156-170) WEC: Lightweight (146-155) Featherweight (136-145) Bantamweight (126-135) Flyweight (116-125) Strawweight (100-115) or even do right away with the Flyweight & Strawweight idea, and bring in a women's division (or two) in WEC.

I'm more interested in the expansion of the SES. I believe the returning guy was Joey Mercury, and one would assume WWE is going to change his name, ala Johnny Nitro to John Morrison. And he's a darn okay worker. Now just need to add someone else and you have the Four Horsemen, but straight edge. Punk - Flair Gallows - Anderson Mercury - Tully Serena - JJ Dillon Darren Young maybe? - the Windham/fourth guy who was never as important.